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Priestess Dance
'''The Priestess Dance' is a deadly martial art technique used by the Shiyuu and requires immense training as well as the talent to use it in combat. It relies on the breath of the user, which can be a weakness as a user with poor stamina cannot use it for a long duration of time. History According to their teachings, the sword did not originate as a tool of warfare for the killing of men but rather, it was born as a divine instrument for the purpose of venerating the heavens. The god-fearing people would pay homage to the heavens by holding a "priestess dance" where the priestess, host to the gods, would dance amidst a sea of flames and offerings. Those that made contact with the gods would dance while their conscience was intoxicated and cut down all who stood before them with the sword as the catalyst. It is from this ancient ritual that the secret technique was born as the Shiyuu refined it into a skill used to kill people. Kyou comments that there are other martial experts who "carry the god" within them rather than make contact with it and they are known as Bushin. Appearance The user sits on the ground in a cross-legged stance, gathering their breath for the move. Once ready, she begins to chant a repeating line before cutting down any opponents nearby. It appears to draw from rotations as the user is seen spinning while balanced on one foot at the beginning of the dance, sword arm pointed up while the other arm points down. When the user begins the technique, their eyes seem distant or somewhat glazed over. It has been noted that the chant repeated differs from tribe to tribe. Information When Kyou Kai was younger she talked about the dance with her older sister Shou, how they used it but did not quite fully understand it. Shou talked about how she felt while using it and Kai described how she felt. The description provided by Kyou Kai was similar to how Kyou Shou experienced it, to a certain point. Indicating that Kyou Kai has gone further than even Shou, who was considered one of the strongest potential Shiyuu's. This is also strengthened by Yuu Ren when Kyou Kai fights against the Yuu tribe. When doing the dance the dancer can feel scared, enjoyable, hot, cold, horny, etc. Yuu Ren mentioned the Dance worked via making the wielder's senses activated to a higher degree while their conscience grows distant. Though the dance's purpose is to guide their minds into the depths of consciousness there's a limit to how deep they can go. They refer to that region as the "Hakuryou" (Soul Territory) Taboo. The priestess dance song they hum is used to help them into a trance, but at the same time it also serves as a guidepost for pulling themselves back out of the depths. If they were to sink further than the Hakuryou border, then they would no longer be able to hear the song and be unable to find their way back. So they would never wake up. There have been many people who have overstepped the Hakuryou boundary, but not a single one has ever managed to return, their bodies simply wasting away. The Hakuryou could be said to be the heart's boundary between life and death, it was not something they could instinctively reach. Strengths & Weaknesses This is a very powerful technique as most enemies who encounter it are instantly killed, even assassins are hard-pressed to follow the movements of the user. Against members of Clan Gouma, Kyou Kai beheaded 5 of them with one stroke of her sword while using this stance. Considering the fact that they were skilled assassins, the fact 5 of them couldn't even see her sword before it decapitated them shows the vast skill difference brought on when using the dance. Suu Gen called it an unpredictable level of movement switching and speed change. At its deepest level, the user is capable of achieving speeds that cannot be tracked visually and can easily land multiple cuts on such skilled fighters like Houken, who can move as fast as a normal Shiyuu. The weakness is the user's stamina as seen in the assassination attempt and the Battle at Dakan Plains. The technique can be defeated by unnatural, skilled fighters like Hou Ken who can use their chi in similar ways to the Shiyuu. Gallery Category:Clan Shiyuu Category:Sword Techniques